Having a father in the Air Force meant that we moved every two and a half years. Sometimes more. With all the changes I sometimes wonder how I made it through school at all. A friend once commented that they thought I was very self contained, perhaps that is just resilience from having such a nomadic childhood. We started off in Malta, then England, Australia, back to England, Holland, Australia, Malaysia, Aust, England, Malaysia and finally returning to Australia permanently in 1974.

I think my mother should be credited with getting us through all the changes. Although we moved from house to house we always had a home. My mother was a great believer in routine and where ever we were there were always some familiar things…things that came with us from place to place, some of them are at my mothers current home and will go to her new one with her. My mother also made sure that we didn’t miss too much school. To the point that when we had an extended holiday, or perhaps it was between moves, at my cousins place, when my cousins went back to school I was sent with them, just for 2 weeks. I was actually always very shy, and starting a new school and having to make new friends was both exciting and stressful.

In 1965, my mother decided to take us (my brother and sister and I) to Holland to see her family, we were between moves and our next house wasn’t ready so it seemed like a good opportunity before all the old relatives were no longer around. That year I went to 3 schools in 3 different countries! Australia, England and Holland. Again in 1969 I had 3 schools in 3 countries, this time Malaysia, Australia and England.